


Two Moons

by PetraTodd



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Craigslist, Destiny, F/M, Meet-Cute, The Force is Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9085681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetraTodd/pseuds/PetraTodd
Summary: Finn needed a chance, and Two Moons was it. Unfortunately there's a young woman named Rey standing between him and the job. But the Force has a funny way of working things out, as they'll discover.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dietplainlite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dietplainlite/gifts).



Finn realized the girl was going to be a problem from the moment he saw her walking up to the door, paper in hand.

At first glance, she seemed all wrong for the place. Her walnut brown hair was smoothed back into a classic French braid that suited the green track pants she wore with a black tank top. Around her throat, he spotted a black thong-style necklace, with something shimmery dangling from the rope into the cleavage of her top. All in all, not the sort of people he’d seen wandering in and out of the shop for the last fifteen minutes. So what did she want with Two Moons? He fumed silently.

Something told him not to write her off, though. The girl’s quick stride was laced with determination, the furrow between her brows matching the stubborn set of her shoulders. As she reached the door and grabbed the handle, she noticed Finn lingering outside uncertainly. And then she did the most marvelous thing.

The girl turned to him, and smiled. At once, the jittery ball of nerves bouncing around his gut stopped, and he felt lightheaded, like he’d downed a glass of wine.

“Are you coming in?” she said in a surprising British accent. Her hazel eyes warmed, and the dimples in her cheeks deepened. “Well?”

Finn shook himself. “How do you know I’m going there? I could be going anywhere. Like there.” He pointed across the street blindly.

The girl’s eyebrows rose. “Victoria’s Secret? Right. My mate loves it. No judgment.”

Finn’s head whipped to the right. _Oh, shit._ “Fine, I was going here. Ladies first.”

She pulled the door open and took a step inside. Her grin widening, she nodded her head at Finn’s hands. “Y’know, I can see the job application sticking out.”

He looked down at the faux-leather portfolio he’d nearly forgotten about, in his anxiousness. The white form hung limply over the edge, displaying his name and half his address.

“Finn, is it? You seem like a good guy, but I really need this job. Because quite frankly, I’d like to eat this week.” Her smile dropped and he saw the steel beneath. “Good luck- with another application.”

“Maybe. Or maybe you’ll be pounding the pavement still, after this.” Finn stuffed the application back into his portfolio. “I have a good feeling about this place.”

“Funny, so do I.” She pursed her lips. “May the best applicant win, then.”

“Fair enough. I didn’t catch your na-“

The door shut behind her.

“Oh-“ Finn’s words dissolved into a string of mumbled curse words.

He huffed, and caught hold of himself. He breathed through his nose and gave himself the thirty   second version of the pep talk he gave himself before every job interview lately. Granted, it hadn’t worked so far, but why stop now?

Finn wasn’t kidding about having a feeling about Two Moons. As soon as he’d seen the ad on Craigslist, he’d known this was the place for him. He couldn’t explain it, but the mysterious ad he’d found the day before had called out to him, and filled him with certainty. This was the one.

It was serendipitous that he’d even found the ad. At first he scrolled through weeks of listings, and found nothing but scams and thinly veiled porn shoots. Giving up in despair, he’d scrolled back up one more time, pleading with the universe to bring him something useful, something to end these three months of unemployment and Ramen. He’d closed his eyes and let his fingers walk back up the touchpad of his laptop, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a listing he’d missed the first time around.

_Two Moons New Age Emporium_

_Metaphysical Delights_

_And Goods for the Wandering Rebel_

_Assistance needed. You’re my only hope._

_$19/hr + Benefits negot. Download application._

 

The benefits particularly called out to him, if he was being pragmatic. And Finn usually was. That was just a matter of survival when you grew up in foster care. He liked to think he’d beaten the system though, in not letting it beat him. He decided who he was, and what he would become.

He just needed a chance. Two Moons was his chance.

* * *

 

 “Hello? Is there anyone back there? I’ve come about the job,” Rey called out. Two Moons was larger than it seemed once she stepped inside. Outside it appeared to be a cozy one-room shop, four walls covered in earth-toned paisley and strings of crystals. After the door closed behind Rey, she had the sense of being sealed off in another world, with the light scent of jasmine in her nose and what sounded like Heart playing on a distant radio somewhere.

“Hellooo…” Rey trailed off. She looked around, and spotted a doorway covered with a beaded curtain. Giving it two seconds of thought, she decisively marched over and rapped on the doorjamb. “Are you back there?”

“God, I love this song,” a woman rasped from behind her.

“Fuck!” Rey shouted, spinning around. An older woman stood behind her, holding a large cardboard box. “I’m sorry. Where did you-“

“Dreamboat Annie,” the woman explained. She shifted the box in her arms. “Great album. Get the CD, or whatever you kids do these days.” She sighed. “Are you coming in or not? There’s a draft.”

Rey frowned. “What?”

The woman stepped to the left, revealing the cute guy from outside lurking at the doorway. He seemed frozen on the doorstep, his eyes darting between Rey and the other woman.

“You talking to me? Yeah, sorry, you must be.” Finn stepped inside, the door clicking behind him. “I hope this is a good time.” He cast a winning smile at the woman and drew a piece of paper from his portfolio. “I saw your ad online-“

“Me too! Hi, I’m Rey,” she blurted out, thrusting her application at the woman.

She grinned sardonically, and dropped the box on the floor. She kicked it aside carelessly as she reached out. “Oh, great. Thanks.” She collected the forms from them and wandered behind the counter, tucking the papers underneath the antique register.

She looked up at Finn and Rey expectantly. “Okay, you can leave.”

“I’m an incredibly hard worker, and I could start right away. Like, tomorrow, if you needed,” Rey jumped in, seeing her chance slip away. “If there are any particular concerns you have, Ms..?”

“Organa,” the woman drawled, “Leia Organa. The coven members, those that are still around, call me the General. If you’re unlucky enough to get the job, you’ll find out why.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘coven?’ Sounded like you said coven. Ha, ha. Probably not.” Finn wished he could control the tension in his voice, or how quickly he was speaking. Back in St. Armitage’s House, between foster homes, Phasma used to say that that was his tell whenever they played Texas Hold’em. He learned how to gamble and how to lose, and even how to fight, but he never could figure out how to hide what he was feeling.

Rey looked at him, her lips curved slightly, and he was struck by the lack of surprise on her face. The oddness of the place wasn’t putting her off at all. She appeared to belong to the shop, once they were inside. Her green-brown eyes, the earthy colors of her hair, the golden tan of her muscled arms: she fit in. Why had he assumed she was just an athlete, the sort of girl who knew nothing about this kind of place? _He_ was an athlete, or at least he’d wanted to be, when he was able to attend school regularly.  

_Why did I assume? What’s that expression? When you assume…_

“You’re an ass,” Leia muttered, finding her way to a tapestry-draped chair by the front window. “The both of you. This is what the Force sends me, this is what I have to work with. Alright.” She gestured to the two other chairs crammed tightly beside her. “Sit.”

Finn and Rey exchanged puzzled glances, and obeyed.

Leia sat back, crossed her denim-clad legs, and drank them in silently for a moment. After a minute’s expressionless contemplation, her brown eyes softened, and crinkled at the corners. “So. Tell me how you found the ad.”

* * *

“Craigslist. It was the first one I came across. Quite easy actually. I took it as a sign.” Rey used her brightest smile, the one that got her better deals at the flea market. She hoped the years of manning her uncle’s junk sales had taught her that much. Leia nodded, and leaned forward.

Her hand lashed out with a speed that surprised Finn and Rey both; her fingers hooked the black thong necklace around Rey’s throat, drawing out the blue crystal charm attached.

“Let’s have a look,” Leia muttered. She smiled as she rolled the crystal in her palm. “It feels right, doesn’t it? Like it’s yours- absolutely.”

“Yes,” Rey said, her voice fallen to a whisper. It was impossible to explain to people, her attachment to the necklace she’d had for as long as she could remember. Once she’d temporarily lost the necklace in her bedroom, and she’d cried for days. When she needed to center herself, she cupped the charm and breathed slowly. It always worked when nothing else did. “I don’t feel right if I don’t wear it. It’s like…”

“Part of you.” Leia nodded. “Kyber crystals retain the energy of the user- or wearer- the longer they’re held in their possession. This one is very much you. But I can still sense the previous owner, though I haven’t seen him in several years.”

“I don’t understand.” Rey tilted her head. “It was a gift, from my uncle. The only thing he’s ever given me.” She looked downward, and she felt Finn turn in his chair toward her.

 _Don’t_ , she thought. _Keep your sympathy._

“Wasn’t from him. It was from your father.” Leia’s thumb traced the contour of the crystal. “But you’re not ready for that story yet.” She dropped the necklace.

“Wait what- who are you?” Rey swallowed. The crystal glowed hotly against her skin. Her heart pounded; she rubbed her palms against her pants to keep from clenching her hands. “What is this?”

“That wasn’t how you found the ad, was it?” Leia ignored the queries and turned to Finn. “A bit harder. You almost missed it?”

“Yeah, it took a few passes..but I saw it. I want the job.” Finn’s eyes landed on Rey. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Rey brushed him off. This would be so much easier if he wasn’t so kind. “I want the job, too. Tell me about it. I need this.”

Leia reached back to adjust her graying bun, and relaxed into her chair. “Lock the door, Finn. I’ve got something to show you two. And if you’re comfortable with that, then you can have the job. Both of you.”

Their eyes met; Rey saw wariness and then hope dawn in Finn’s eyes. She wondered if he saw the same in her own. Holding his gaze, she nodded; whatever happened next, in this strange little place, the two of them were in it together.

* * *

  Stepping through the beaded curtain, and remembering the word “coven,” Finn expected to find a pentacle engraved in the floor, along with an incense-laden altar.

He was pleasantly surprised instead to find simply another room filled with tastefully arranged new age merchandise, and a trio of bean bags forming a triangle on the blue shag carpet. Rey looked amused, watching as Finn sniffed a bottle of herbs as he passed it.

“Have a seat. This is show and tell.” Leia opened the drawer of a worn cherry oak desk heaped high with filmy scarves. She rummaged around, digging deep until she found what she sought.

“There’s crystals…and there’s crystals,” Leia said wryly. In her hands she displayed a huge chunk of greenish-white crystal that dwarfed the piece at Rey’s throat. _That thing’s bigger than a soccer ball,_ he thought, _I wonder what it cost._ But he realized he should keep that thought to himself, at least until he had the job secured.

The General plopped herself onto a bean bag and set the jagged piece between them.

“Sit up, and breathe for a minute.”

“Are we meditating?” Finn asked.

“No, you just look like you’re going to pass out,” Leia said. “Breathe slowly through your noses. Then lean in and place your hands around the crystal.”

“It’s just like mine, isn’t it? Only larger?” Rey asked.

“More or less,” Leia said. “More.”

Finn and Rey leaned in, their hands curving around the crystal until their fingertips touched.

The crystal heated on contact, the shape of the rough shards seeming to fill their palms.

“ _Oh_ ,” Finn sighed. He had to be imagining it, but the crystal was glowing. Warmth flowed between their grazing fingertips. Frissons raced up Finn's arms, tickling the back of his neck until his brain sang with it. “It’s…oh.”

“I feel it,” Rey breathed, her eyes shining into his.

“It’s alright. Just stay focused on the center. Stay with each other,” Leia said, her voice kind now. The raspiness faded away, and her voice took on an air Finn could only call regal.

“I’ll explain. I’ll explain everything.”

* * *

 _Traditions. It’s about our traditions. The order existed for thousands of years, under different names-_ _summoner, gealdricge,_ _Jedi, wicken, the coven, but the word we always come back to is witch. We’re witches, whatever form we take._

_Across the world, across centuries and cultures and generations, our power grew. Our knowledge did, too, our understanding of the world. There must always be a balance, as much light as there is dark. Give as much as we take and keep. For every birth, there must be death. That is the natural order. We passed it on in story, in teaching and in blood._

Images flowed through Finn’s mind: the hushed chant of a brown-haired priestess, a green valley dewy under his feet, unknown words he could somehow read etched into stone, the dark profile of a man who looked very much like him, the scent of wood smoke as he ran through the woods-

_Time passed, and the balance was lost. Our people forgot their traditions, and lost the way. Too many witches wanted to take and not give, they didn’t understand the cost of the power. The more they took, the more was lost._

Rey gasped, her breath caught in her throat: with Leia’s words, she saw a war where magic gutted families, their blood splattered across sacred hearths-

_And so, we’ve lost. Almost everything now._

_But there’s hope. There’s you._

_The witch blood runs through the world, waiting to be awoken. Stronger in some than in others, but what matters is what the witch does with that kernel of potential. The old tradition has fallen away, and a new one must be created. Help me. I thought that my son would be the one to bring balance back to our people, but I was wrong. Horribly wrong._

Through the haze of the crystal, in a singular thought, Finn and Rey heard the sob in Leia’s voice.

_You heard my call, you saw it when no one else did all these years._

_Will you join us?_

* * *

“Well?” Leia’s hoarse voice cut through the daze.

Finn and Rey looked up. At some point in the General’s story, their fingers had slid from the crystal to grasp one another’s hands. Shaking now, they didn’t let go.

“How do we know it’s real? It’s madness,” Rey said.

“I could show it to you again. Outside, in broad daylight, no funny stuff.” Leia shrugged. “It’s a powerful crystal. Belonged to my father. Which is another story.”

“One question,” Finn said quietly.

“Yes?”

“Do we really get benefits? Starting immediately?”

Leia crossed her arms and considered the two of them. “I think that can be arranged.”

“Then I say…I’m in.” Finn squeezed Rey’s hands. “What do you think?”

“I think… _I’m_ going to be Employee of the Month.” Rey laughed shakily. “And I really do have a lot more questions.”

“I’d be worried if you didn’t,” Leia said, heaving herself off the bean bag.

Finn looked at the young woman across from him again, wondering at how it didn’t feel strange at all to be holding her hands still.

“It’s absolutely mad,” Rey shook her head. “But I can’t shake the feeling that I’m supposed to be here. And you…I stopped outside, because for a moment, I thought I knew you already.”

“You will,” Finn said. For the second time in as many days, he felt unshakable certainty deep down inside. “You will.”

 

 


End file.
